Good Call: Bonkers idea to bring diving horses back to Atlantic City gets scrapped

A couple weeks ago, we reported on Steel Pier Associates’ plan to bring diving horses back to Atlantic City. Well, they changed their mind.

The plans drew fierce criticism from horse lovers, who unanimously agreed that forcing horses to jump off a 40-foot platform into a 12-foot-deep pool was a bad idea. Thousands of people signed petitions online opposing the idea.

The diving horse attraction ran from the 1920s to the 1970s, with up to four jumps a day at its height.

While Steel Pier Associates insisted that the diving horse act would be conducted in a humane manner, nobody believed them, especially the Humane Society of the United States.

Humane Society president and chief executive Wayne Pacelle, in a blog attacking the proposal, said the idea was stupid and smacked of the worst kind of hucksterism and snake-oil showmanship.